Despite having a somewhat youthful look to the side, Milan unsurprisingly dominated early on, charging forward almost at will.
Emerson Royal was the first to try his luck with a shot angling towards the corner of Nicola Leali’s net before his intervention.
Milan kept the pressure on, and Samuel Chukwueze had a gilt-edged chance to break the deadlock on 24’, but was left cursing his luck when he could only fire just wide of the left-hand post, after meeting a ball across the area from Alex Jimenez.
Amidst the near-relentless waves of red and black, there was little sign of Genoa fashioning a chance of their own.
However, they were nearly gifted a chance to take the lead shortly before the interval, when a rookie error from 17-year-old Mattia Liberali saw him fell Fabio Miretti with a clumsy challenge on a rare foray forward for Genoa.
He was spared a nightmare senior-level debut by some leniency on field and in the VAR room, giving Milan a tinge of gratitude as they retreated goalless into the dressing room.
Alvaro Morata was deployed in place of Tammy Abraham, but the potential benefits of having fresh legs up front weren’t forthcoming as Genoa continued to repel their hosts.
And while they never looked like getting their first away win over Milan since a behind-closed-doors affair in 2020, a youthful Milan setup was being matched physically, and slightly troubled by the axis of Morten Thorsby and Andrea Pinamonti - the latter being a scorer of no less than four opening goals for Genoa prior to kick-off.
Milan’s frustrations visibly grew as the game approached the final 15 minutes, with audible groans greeting a near miss from Morata.
Tijjani Reijnders’ darting run through the middle ended with the Spaniard getting within striking distance of the net, but he could only curl high, wide and (not very) handsomely.
More pain would come just a couple of minutes later when another sweeping move saw Morata strike the bar from close range with the goal gaping after a slicing ball through the Genoa lines.
In truth, the prospect of Genoa completing a chain of three successive Serie A away wins for the first time since November 2014 always looked unlikely. However, this will no doubt be treated as a positive result and a moral victory - especially against a side they’ve now beaten just once in 14 league meetings.
On a more negative note, however, they are just two points clear of 18th-placed Cagliari. As for Milan, this is a potentially devastating result for their hopes of securing Champions League football via the league, even if it is now just one loss in 10 matches for Paulo Fonseca’s men.
